PROView - May 2008 - (Page 15) Mind Your Manners! Dear Miss Manners, by Kat McCoy, MLS Manager time, and that of my clients, was wasted. When will the MLS start fining agents for such purposely deceptive and unfair practices? It degrades the entire system to have these agents continually deceive the public and fellow REALTORS. — Sick of Deception Dear Sick, Unfortunately, I receive emails like this every day. In one instance, I called an agent and requested him to change the property style from single family home to mobile home. Their reply was, “how many families expect to live in a mobile home?” This type of inaccurate entry of property style is a finable offense (Section 5.0), and so is entering a property in the wrong class (multi-family entered as single family). A call to the agent usually gets it corrected, but MLS staff cannot contact the violator unless the problem is reported. The good news is that the new Tempo 5 has a direct link to specific listings where you can simply click on the link and immediately report any violations you encounter. This should really help with problems such as the one you have written about. To my MLS police out there, keep on policing! A seller of several listings faxed a request to the listing participant to terminate their exclusive relationship. Yet the participant broker has refused to place the listings into a “withdrawn-u” status. The seller is unaware of how to handle this situation and is very unhappy about the situation. Can an MLS representative contact this seller to assist? — Concerned Agent Dear Concerned Agent, This is a touchy situation. Our rules clearly state that the MLS does not have the right to require a listing broker to withdraw a listing at the seller’s request (Section 5.6). The seller and listing broker have a contract, and the listing broker has to agree in writing to terminate the contract. The MLS is not a party to the contract and is not aware of any withdrawal terms that may be in the contract. In instances where the seller can provide written proof that they have been unconditionally released from their contract, the MLS can remove the listing. However, this rarely occurs. The protocol for this situation is to get the seller and listing broker to agree and meet all terms for release of contract. If the seller contacts the MLS for assistance, we will request all paperwork from both parties. If it is clear that the seller has been released, unconditionally, we can remove the listing. If it is not clear, we suggest the seller contact an attorney. Dear Ms. Manners, A local agent constantly lies about a specific property, or takes deceptive photos and/or descriptions! An example: a listing stated single family home as property style. I brought my clients to look at the home, but found a townhome duplex! The agent lied and my PINELLAS REALTOR® ORGANIZATION Running all over town getting you down? Shop at the PRO REALTOR® Store ONLINE and save a trip. With our same-day shipping, you could have your supplies delivered to your home or office as soon as tomorrow for most Pinellas County locations. Visit www.tampabayrealtor.com/store to check it out! May 2008 15 http://www.tampabayrealtor.com/store
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.